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Jean Pateman

Indefatigable campaigner who saved Highgate Cemetery from closure in 1975 and led community efforts to reverse decades of decline

February 27 2012, 12:01am, The Times

“The dragon at the gate”: Pateman saw it as her duty to protect Highgate Cemetery from would-be picnickers, transistor radios and visitors with large camerasNigel Sutton

As the founder of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery, Jean Pateman spearheaded the battle to rescue the Victorian cemetery in North London, which had fallen into severe disrepair after decades of neglect. Her energy, enthusiasm, vision and singleminded commitment are credited in large part with rescuing the cemetery from the decline which had resulted in its closure in 1975, when the private company then operating it ran out of funds. Pateman formed the Friends of Highgate Cemetery in response and successfully campaigned for the reopening of the site the same year.

Pateman became the long-serving and formidable chairman of the Friends, which over the following 37 years was responsible for leading restoration and conservation efforts at the cemetery, including the Egyptian Avenue, Circle of Lebanon…